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and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary,
who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah.
So her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.
See, the virgin will become pregnant
and give birth to a son,
and they will name him Immanuel,
which is translated “God is with us.”
saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”[fn]
So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born.
After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was — the star they had seen at its rising. It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was.
For he is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, who said:
A voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
Prepare the way for the Lord;
make his paths straight!
Now John had a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
“And don't presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.
But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me? ”
Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John allowed him to be baptized.
When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him,[fn] and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him.
Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
Then Jesus told him, “Go away,[fn] Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
The people who live in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those living in the land of the shadow of death,
a light has dawned.[fn]
From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
“Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
“For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter[fn] or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished.
“So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you,
“Reach a settlement quickly with your adversary while you're on the way with him to the court, or your adversary will hand you over to the judge, and the judge to[fn] the officer, and you will be thrown into prison.
“But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
“If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
“But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
“But let your ‘yes' mean ‘yes,' and your ‘no' mean ‘no.' Anything more than this is from the evil one.
“so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[fn]
“But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[fn]
“Don't be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.
“For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well.
“so that your fasting isn't obvious to others but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.[fn]
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!
“Consider the birds of the sky: They don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they?
“If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't he do much more for you — you of little faith?
“For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
“For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.
“Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
“But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn't act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
Then Jesus told him, “See that you don't tell anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
“Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith.
“But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Then Jesus told the centurion, “Go. As you have believed, let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that very moment.[fn]
So he touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began to serve him.
When Jesus saw a large crowd[fn] around him, he gave the order to go to the other side of the sea.
Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
Just then some men[fn] brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven.”
Perceiving their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts?[fn]
“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — then he told the paralytic, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.
When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? ”
Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick.
“And no one puts[fn] new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
When Jesus came to the leader's house, he saw the flute players and a crowd lamenting loudly.
After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.
When he entered the house, the blind men approached him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this? ”
They said to him, “Yes, Lord.”
And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus warned them sternly, “Be sure that no one finds out.”
When the demon had been driven out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed, saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel! ”
These are the names of the twelve apostles: First, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;[fn]
Jesus sent out these twelve after giving them instructions: “Don't take the road that leads to the Gentiles, and don't enter any Samaritan town.
“Don't take a traveling bag for the road, or an extra shirt, sandals, or a staff, for the worker is worthy of his food.
“You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
“When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. For truly I tell you, you will not have gone through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
“It is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master. If they called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,' how much more the members of his household!
“The one who loves a father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; the one who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
“Anyone who finds his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life because of me will find it.
“The one who welcomes you welcomes me, and the one who welcomes me welcomes him who sent me.
When Jesus had finished giving instructions to his twelve disciples, he moved on from there to teach and preach in their towns.
Now when John heard in prison what the Christ was doing, he sent a message through his disciples
As these men were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?
“Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has appeared,[fn] but the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants.
“All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires[fn] to reveal him.
At that time Jesus passed through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick and eat some heads of grain.
He said to them, “Haven't you read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry:
He replied to them, “Who among you, if he had a sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn't take hold of it and lift it out?
Jesus was aware of this and withdrew. Large crowds[fn] followed him, and he healed them all.
Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
“If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
“Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who does not gather with me scatters.
“A good person produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil person produces evil things from his storeroom of evil.
He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
“For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish[fn] three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
He replied to the one who was speaking to him, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers? ”
Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore.
Then he told them many things in parables, saying, “Consider the sower who went out to sow.
He answered, “Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know, but it has not been given to them.
“When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn't understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path.
“And the one sown on rocky ground — this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.
“Now the one sown among the thorns — this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness[fn] of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
“But the one sown on the good ground — this is one who hears and understands the word, who does produce fruit and yields: some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times what was sown.”
“But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left.
“ ‘An enemy did this,' he told them.
“ ‘So, do you want us to go and pull them up? ' the servants asked him.
“ ‘No,' he said. ‘When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them.
Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables, and he did not tell them anything without a parable,
“the field is the world; and the good seed — these are the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one,
“and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
“They will throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom. Let anyone who has ears[fn] listen.
“and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Therefore,” he said to them, “every teacher of the law[fn] who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom treasures new and old.”
“Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joseph,[fn] Simon, and Judas?
And they were offended by him.
Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his household.”
“This is John the Baptist,” he told his servants. “He has been raised from the dead, and that's why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
For Herod had arrested John, chained[fn] him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,
Although the king regretted it, he commanded that it be granted because of his oaths and his guests.
When Jesus heard about it, he withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the towns.
When evening came, the disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late.[fn] Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
He said, “Come.”
And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus.
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt? ”
“For God said:[fn] Honor your father and your mother; and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.
Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she's crying out after us.”
He answered, “It isn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”
Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment[fn] her daughter was healed.
Moving on from there, Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee. He went up on a mountain and sat there,
Jesus called his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they've already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way.”
“How many loaves do you have? ” Jesus asked them.
“Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”
He replied, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be good weather because the sky is red.'
Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven[fn] of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Aware of this, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread?
Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah,[fn] because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven.
From then on Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “Oh no,[fn] Lord! This will never happen to you! ”
Jesus turned and told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me because you're not thinking about God's concerns[fn] but human concerns.”
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
“For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each according to what he has done.
After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.
He was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun; his clothes became as white as the light.
Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it's good for us to be here. If you want, I will set up[fn] three shelters here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud covered[fn] them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him! ”
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Don't tell anyone about the vision until the Son of Man is raised[fn] from the dead.”
“But I tell you: Elijah has already come, and they didn't recognize him. On the contrary, they did whatever they pleased to him. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”
Jesus replied, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.”
As they were gathering together[fn] in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.
When they came to Capernaum, those who collected the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax? ”
“Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child — this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
“If your hand or your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.
“And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hellfire.[fn]
“If your brother sins against you,[fn] go tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother.
“If he doesn't pay attention to them, tell the church.[fn] If he doesn't pay attention even to the church, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you.
Then Peter approached him and asked, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times? ”
“Since he did not have the money to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt.
“At this, the servant fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything.'
“Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan.
“That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.[fn] He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe! '
“At this, his fellow servant fell down[fn] and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
“But he wasn't willing. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed.
“Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.
“And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed.
When Jesus had finished saying these things, he departed from Galilee and went to the region of Judea across the Jordan.
“Haven't you read,” he replied, “that he who created[fn] them in the beginning made them male and female,
“So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
He responded, “Not everyone can accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given.
“For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb, there are eunuchs who were made by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves that way because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept it should accept it.”
Jesus said, “Leave the little children alone, and don't try to keep them from coming to me, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”[fn]
“Which ones? ” he asked him.
Jesus answered: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness;
“If you want to be perfect,”[fn] Jesus said to him, “go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard that, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.
Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Then Peter responded to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you. So what will there be for us? ”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard told his foreman, ‘Call the workers and give them their pay, starting with the last and ending with the first.'
“He replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Didn't you agree with me on a denarius?
While going up to Jerusalem, Jesus took the twelve disciples aside privately and said to them on the way,
“See, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death.
“What do you want? ” he asked her.
“Promise,”[fn] she said to him, “that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left, in your kingdom.”
Jesus answered, “You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? ”[fn]
“We are able,” they said to him.
Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them.
“just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The crowd demanded that they keep quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David! ”
Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they could see, and they followed him.
“If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.”
Tell Daughter Zion,
“See, your King is coming to you,
gentle, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt,
the foal of a donkey.”
A very large crowd spread their clothes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.
Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted:
Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!
He said to them, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves! ”
and said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying? ”
Jesus replied, “Yes, have you never read:
You have prepared[fn] praise
from the mouths of infants and nursing babies? ”
Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' it will be done.
Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
“Then the man went to the other and said the same thing. ‘I will, sir,' he answered, but he didn't go.
“Which of the two did his father's will? ”
They said, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.
“When the time came to harvest fruit, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect his fruit.
“But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.'
“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers? ”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.[fn]
This is what the Lord has done
and it is wonderful in our eyes?
“Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”[fn]
“The king[fn] was enraged, and he sent out his troops, killed those murderers, and burned down their city.
“Then he told his servants, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.
“So those servants went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests.[fn]
“When the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding.
“So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes? ' The man was speechless.
“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot,[fn] and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
“Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies, having no children, his brother is to marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
“Now there were seven brothers among us. The first got married and died. Having no offspring, he left his wife to his brother.
Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, because you don't know the Scriptures or the power of God.
“I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He[fn] is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,' because you have one Teacher,[fn] and you are all brothers and sisters.
“Do not call anyone on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is in heaven.
“You are not to be called instructors either, because you have one Instructor, the Messiah.
“Blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?
“Therefore, the one who takes an oath by the altar takes an oath by it and by everything on it.
“The one who takes an oath by the temple takes an oath by it and by him who dwells in it.
“And the one who takes an oath by heaven takes an oath by God's throne and by him who sits on it.
“For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord'! ”
As Jesus left and was going out of the temple, his disciples came up and called his attention to its buildings.
He replied to them, “Do you see all these things? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down.”
“For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,' and they will deceive many.
“So when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place” (let the reader understand),
“If anyone tells you then, ‘See, here is the Messiah! ' or, ‘Over here! ' do not believe it.
“Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
“Learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near.
“Now concerning that day and hour no one knows — neither the angels of heaven nor the Son[fn] — except the Father alone.
“They didn't know until the flood came and swept them all away. This is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be.
“But know this: If the homeowner had known what time[fn] the thief was coming, he would have stayed alert and not let his house be broken into.
“This is why you are also to be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time?
“that servant's master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know.
“He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“In the middle of the night there was a shout: ‘Here's the groom! Come out to meet him.'
“When they had gone to buy some, the groom arrived, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.
“the man who had received five talents went, put them to work, and earned five more.
“But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money.
“After a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
“The man who had received five talents approached, presented five more talents, and said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I've earned five more talents.'
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master's joy.'
“The man with two talents also approached. He said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I've earned two more talents.'
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master's joy.'
“The man who had received one talent also approached and said, ‘Master, I know you. You're a harsh man, reaping where you haven't sown and gathering where you haven't scattered seed.
“His master replied to him, ‘You evil, lazy servant! If you knew that I reap where I haven't sown and gather where I haven't scattered,
“And throw this good-for-nothing servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels[fn] with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
“All the nations[fn] will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'
“You know[fn] that the Passover takes place after two days, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a noble thing for me.
“Go into the city to a certain man,” he said, “and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My time is near; I am celebrating the Passover at your place[fn] with my disciples.' ”
“The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had not been born.”
Judas, his betrayer, replied, “Surely not I, Rabbi? ”
“You have said it,” he told him.
As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat it; this is my body.”
Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight all of you will fall away because of me, for it is written:
I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.
Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away.”
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “tonight, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”
“Even if I have to die with you,” Peter told him, “I will never deny you,” and all the disciples said the same thing.
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he told the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? See, the time is near. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
“Friend,” Jesus asked him, “why have you come? ”[fn]
Then they came up, took hold of Jesus, and arrested him.
Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in its place because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword.
At that time Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs, as if I were a criminal,[fn] to capture me? Every day I used to sit, teaching in the temple, and you didn't arrest me.
Peter was following him at a distance right to the high priest's courtyard. He went in and was sitting with the servants to see the outcome.
The high priest stood up and said to him, “Don't you have an answer to what these men are testifying against you? ”
But Jesus kept silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
“You have said it,” Jesus told him. “But I tell you, in the future[fn] you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? See, now you've heard the blasphemy.
Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl approached him and said, “You were with Jesus the Galilean too.”
and Peter remembered the words Jesus had spoken, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, was full of remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.
Now Jesus stood before the governor. “Are you the king of the Jews? ” the governor asked him.
Jesus answered, “You say so.”
Then Pilate said to him, “Don't you hear how much they are testifying against you? ”
At the festival the governor's custom was to release to the crowd a prisoner they wanted.
So when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Who is it you want me to release for you — Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ? ”
The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you? ”
“Barabbas! ” they answered.
Pilate asked them, “What should I do then with Jesus, who is called Christ? ”
They all answered, “Crucify him! ”
Then he said, “Why? What has he done wrong? ”
But they kept shouting all the more, “Crucify him! ”
When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was starting instead, he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am innocent of this man's blood.[fn] See to it yourselves! ”
Above his head they put up the charge against him in writing: This Is Jesus, the King of the Jews.
About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá[fn] sabachtháni ? ” that is, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me ?”
When the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was the Son of God! ”
He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus's body. Then Pilate ordered that it[fn] be released.
and said, “Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.'
The angel told the women, “Don't be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.
Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”
They took the money and did as they were instructed, and this story has been spread among Jewish people to this day.
The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them.
Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
John came baptizing[fn] in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
John wore a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.
He proclaimed, “One who is more powerful than I am is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news! ”
“What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God! ”
So he went to her, took her by the hand, and raised her up. The fever left her,[fn] and she began to serve them.
When evening came, after the sun had set, they brought to him all those who were sick and demon-possessed.
Yet he went out and began to proclaim it widely and to spread the news, with the result that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly. But he was out in deserted places, and they came to him from everywhere.
Since they were not able to bring him to[fn] Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying.
Right away Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?
“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — he told the paralytic —
Jesus went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them.
When Jesus heard this, he told them, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast.
“But the time[fn] will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins. No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins.”
Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee, and a large crowd followed from Judea,
Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God! ”
Jesus entered a house, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat.[fn]
Again he began to teach by the sea, and a very large crowd gathered around him. So he got into a boat on the sea and sat down, while the whole crowd was by the sea on the shore.
“Some are like the word sown on the path. When they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word sown in them.[fn]
He also said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn't it to be put on a lampstand?
“He sleeps and rises night and day; the seed sprouts and grows, although he doesn't know how.
“As soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still! ” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
And they were terrified[fn] and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him! ”
As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged him earnestly that he might remain with him.
Jesus did not let him but told him, “Go home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.”
So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed.
Immediately Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes? ”
“Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.”
When Jesus overheard[fn] what was said, he told the synagogue leader, “Don't be afraid. Only believe.”
“Isn't this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren't his sisters here with us? ” So they were offended by him.
Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his household.”
King Herod heard about it, because Jesus's name had become well known. Some[fn] said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that's why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
For Herod himself had given orders to arrest John and to chain him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her.
because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing he was a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard him he would be very perplexed,[fn] and yet he liked to listen to him.
When Herodias's own daughter[fn] came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I'll give it to you.”
Although the king was deeply distressed, because of his oaths and the guests[fn] he did not want to refuse her.
The king immediately sent for an executioner and commanded him to bring John's head. So he went and beheaded him in prison,
When it grew late, his disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late.
“You give them something to eat,” he responded.
They said to him, “Should we go and buy two hundred denarii[fn] worth of bread and give them something to eat? ”
He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”
When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”
because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke with them and said, “Have courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.”
Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded,
He answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me.
“For Moses said: Honor your father and your mother; and Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.
Immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly.
Jesus went out with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the road he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am? ”
“But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am? ”
Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”
But turning around and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are not thinking about God's concerns[fn] but human concerns.”
“For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves to be alone. He was transfigured in front of them,
Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it's good for us to be here. Let's set up three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —
A cloud appeared, overshadowing them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him! ”
As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
“Elijah does come first and restores all things,” he replied. “Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
He replied to them, “You unbelieving generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to me.”
“How long has this been happening to him? ” Jesus asked his father.
“From childhood,” he said.
Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can'?[fn] Everything is possible for the one who believes.”
When Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you: Come out of him and never enter him again.”
For he was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed[fn] into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after he is killed, he will rise three days later.”
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone[fn] driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn't following us.”
“Don't stop him,” said Jesus, “because there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name who can soon afterward speak evil of me.
“And if your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.[fn]
“And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,
But Jesus told them, “He wrote this command for you because of the hardness of your hearts.
When Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me. Don't stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: Go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come,[fn] follow me.”
But he was dismayed by this demand, and he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! ”
The disciples were astonished at his words. Again Jesus said to them, “Children, how hard it is[fn] to enter the kingdom of God!
Looking at them, Jesus said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God.”
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said, “there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father[fn] or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel,
They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were astonished, but those who followed him were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them the things that would happen to him.
“See, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death. Then they will hand him over to the Gentiles,
Jesus said to them, “You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? ”
“We are able,” they told him.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.
Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them.
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[fn]
They came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, was sitting by the road.
When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! ”
Many warned him to keep quiet, but he was crying out all the more, “Have mercy on me, Son of David! ”
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called the blind man and said to him, “Have courage! Get up; he's calling for you.”
Then Jesus answered him, “What do you want me to do for you? ”
“Rabboni,”[fn] the blind man said to him, “I want to see.”
Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has saved you.” Immediately he could see and began to follow Jesus on the road.
“If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this? ' say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here right away.' ”
Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted:
Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord!
Seeing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to find out if there was anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season for figs.
He was teaching them: “Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves! ”
The chief priests and the scribes heard it and started looking for a way to kill him. For they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was astonished by his teaching.
Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing.”[fn]
Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; then answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
So they answered Jesus, “We don't know.”
And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
“But those tenant farmers said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'
“What then will the owner[fn] of the vineyard do? He will come and kill the farmers and give the vineyard to others.
But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius[fn] to look at.”
Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they were utterly amazed at him.
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife behind but no child, that man should take the wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
“There were seven brothers. The first married a woman, and dying, left no offspring.
“The second also took her, and he died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise.
Jesus spoke to them, “Isn't this the reason why you're mistaken: you don't know the Scriptures or the power of God?
“And as for the dead being raised — haven't you read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God said to him: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?
Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, teacher. You have correctly said that he is one, and there is no one else except him.
When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question him any longer.
While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he asked, “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David?
“David himself calls him ‘Lord.' How, then, can he be his son? ” And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.
Sitting across from the temple treasury, he watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums.
Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another — all will be thrown down.”
“You will be hated by everyone because of my name, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.
“When you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be” (let the reader understand), “then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.
“A man on the housetop must not come down or go in to get anything out of his house,
“For those will be days of tribulation, the kind that hasn't been from the beginning of creation until now and never will be again.
“Then if anyone tells you, ‘See, here is the Messiah! See, there! ' do not believe it.
“But in those days, after that tribulation: The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light;
“Learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near.
“Now concerning that day or hour no one knows — neither the angels in heaven nor the Son — but only the Father.
“Therefore be alert, since you don't know when the master of the house is coming — whether in the evening or at midnight or at the crowing of the rooster or early in the morning.
Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a noble thing for me.
Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.
“Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? ” '
While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me — one who is eating with me.”
He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve — the one who is dipping bread in the bowl with me.
“For the Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had not been born.”
Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will fall away,[fn] because it is written:
I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “today, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
But he kept insisting, “If I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And they all said the same thing.
Then he came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The time has come. See, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
His betrayer had given them a signal. “The one I kiss,” he said, “he's the one; arrest him and take him away under guard.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs, as if I were a criminal,[fn] to capture me?
Peter followed him at a distance, right into the high priest's courtyard. He was sitting with the servants,[fn] warming himself by the fire.
Then the high priest stood up before them all and questioned Jesus, “Don't you have an answer to what these men are testifying against you? ”
But he kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest questioned him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One? ”
“I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
But again he denied it. After a little while those standing there said to Peter again, “You certainly are one of them, since you're also a Galilean.”[fn]
Immediately a rooster crowed a second time, and Peter remembered when Jesus had spoken the word to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
Pilate questioned him again, “Aren't you going to answer? Look how many things they are accusing you of! ”
There was one named Barabbas, who was in prison with rebels who had committed murder during the rebellion.
Pilate asked them again, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews? ”
Pilate said to them, “Why? What has he done wrong? ”
But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him! ”
Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them; and after having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified.
“Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe.” Even those who were crucified with him taunted him.
And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni? ” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ”
Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin who was himself looking forward to the kingdom of God, came and boldly went to Pilate and asked for Jesus's body.
Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had already died.
Looking up, they noticed that the stone — which was very large — had been rolled away.
“Don't be alarmed,” he told them. “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they put him.
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
So the Lord Jesus, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the accompanying signs.]
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.
The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and tell you this good news.
Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah, amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary.
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.”[fn]
But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be.
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
The angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
“See, I am the Lord's servant,” said Mary. “May it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
Then she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and your child will be blessed![fn]
Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has visited
and provided redemption for his people.
But the angel said to them, “Don't be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:[fn]
When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let's go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking forward to Israel's consolation, and the Holy Spirit was on him.
After those days were over, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents[fn] did not know it.
When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
“Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. And don't start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.
He replied to them, “The one who has two shirts must share with someone who has none, and the one who has food must do the same.”
Now the people were waiting expectantly, and all of them were questioning in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah.
John answered them all, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I am is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with[fn] the Holy Spirit and fire.
But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and all the evil things he had done,
and the Holy Spirit descended on him in a physical appearance like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.”
The devil said to him, “I will give you their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me, and I can give it to anyone I want.
And Jesus answered him,[fn] “It is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”
Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity.
“But I say to you, there were certainly many widows in Israel in Elijah's days, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months while a great famine came over all the land.
“And in the prophet Elisha's time, there were many in Israel who had leprosy,[fn] and yet not one of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
“Leave us alone! What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God! ”
But Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be silent and come out of him! ” And throwing him down before them, the demon came out of him without hurting him at all.
Amazement came over them all, and they were saying to one another, “What is this message? For he commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out! ”
When the sun was setting, all those who had anyone sick with various diseases brought them to him. As he laid his hands on each one of them, he healed them.
Also, demons were coming out of many, shouting and saying, “You are the Son of God! ” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
But he said to them, “It is necessary for me to proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this purpose.”
and so were James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's partners.
“Don't be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people.”
But the news[fn] about him spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? ”
But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts?[fn]
“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — he told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”
Jesus replied to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick.
Jesus said to them, “You can't make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you?
“But the time[fn] will come when the groom will be taken away from them — then they will fast in those days.”
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill, and the skins will be ruined.
“And no one, after drinking old wine, wants new, because he says, ‘The old is better.' ”[fn]
Jesus answered them, “Haven't you read what David and those who were with him did when he was hungry —
Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you: Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it? ”
After looking around at them all, he told him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did, and his hand was restored.[fn]
The whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power was coming out from him and healing them all.
“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. Take note — your reward is great in heaven, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the prophets.
“But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
“A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
“I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them:
“He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn't shake it, because it was well built.
“But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The river crashed against it, and immediately it collapsed. And the destruction of that house was great.”
Jesus went with them, and when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, “Lord, don't trouble yourself, since I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.
“That is why I didn't even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.[fn]
Jesus heard this and was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found so great a faith even in Israel.”
and sent them to the Lord, asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else? ”
When the men reached him, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else? ' ”
“I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John,[fn] but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
(And when all the people, including the tax collectors, heard this, they acknowledged God's way of righteousness, because they had been baptized with John's baptism.
“For John the Baptist did not come eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon! '
“The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners! '
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him — she's a sinner! ”
Jesus replied to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
He said, “Say it, teacher.”
Simon answered, “I suppose the one he forgave more.”
“You have judged correctly,” he told him.
“A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.
“Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”
So he said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that
Looking they may not see,
and hearing they may not understand.
“The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
But he replied to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear and do the word of God.”
They came and woke him up, saying, “Master, Master, we're going to die! ”
Then he got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves. So they ceased, and there was a calm.
“What is your name? ” Jesus asked him.
“Legion,” he said, because many demons had entered him.
Meanwhile, the eyewitnesses reported to them how the demon-possessed man was delivered.
The man from whom the demons had departed begged him earnestly to be with him. But he sent him away and said,
“Go back to your home, and tell all that God has done for you.” And off he went, proclaiming throughout the town how much Jesus had done for him.
When Jesus heard it, he answered him, “Don't be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved.”[fn]
Everyone was crying and mourning for her. But he said, “Stop crying, because she is not dead but asleep.”
Herod the tetrarch heard about everything that was going on. He was perplexed, because some said that John had been raised from the dead,
“For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and that of the Father and the holy angels.
As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.
Peter and those with him were in a deep sleep,[fn] and when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who were standing with him.
As the two men were departing from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it's good for us to be here. Let's set up three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” — not knowing what he was saying.
Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, the Chosen One;[fn] listen to him! ”
Jesus replied, “You unbelieving and perverse[fn] generation, how long will I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”
As the boy was still approaching, the demon knocked him down and threw him into severe convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
“Let these words sink in:[fn] The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.”
But Jesus, knowing their inner thoughts,[fn] took a little child and had him stand next to him.
He told them, “Whoever welcomes[fn] this little child in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes him who sent me. For whoever is least among you — this one is great.”
“Don't stop him,” Jesus told him, “because whoever is not against you is for you.”[fn]
Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
Then he said to another, “Follow me.”
“Lord,” he said, “first let me go bury my father.”
But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two[fn] others, and he sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go.
He told them, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.
“Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they offer, for the worker is worthy of his wages. Don't move from house to house.
“Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead.
“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said.
Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”
The Lord[fn] answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things,
“For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“What father among you, if his son[fn] asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? ”
Now he was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon came out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed.
“If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say I drive out demons by Beelzebul.
“Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who does not gather with me scatters.
“For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.
“Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is also full of light. But when it is bad, your body is also full of darkness.
“If, therefore, your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be entirely illuminated, as when a lamp shines its light on you.”
When the Pharisee saw this, he was amazed that he did not first perform the ritual washing[fn] before dinner.
But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and evil.
Then he said, “Woe also to you experts in the law! You load people with burdens that are hard to carry, and yet you yourselves don't touch these burdens with one of your fingers.
“And I say to you, anyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God,
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared — whose will they be? '
“That's how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
“Consider the ravens: They don't sow or reap; they don't have a storeroom or a barn; yet God feeds them. Aren't you worth much more than the birds?
“If that's how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will he do for you — you of little faith?
“For the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
“Don't be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom.
“Blessed will be those servants the master finds alert when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will get ready,[fn] have them recline at the table, then come and serve them.
“But know this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible manager his master will put in charge of his household servants to give them their allotted food at the proper time?
“But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,' and starts to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk,
“And that servant who knew his master's will and didn't prepare himself or do it[fn] will be severely beaten.
“But the one who did not know and did what deserved punishment will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be expected.[fn]
“As you are going with your adversary to the ruler, make an effort to settle with him on the way. Then he won't drag you before the judge, the judge hand you over to the bailiff, and the bailiff throw you into prison.
“Or those eighteen that the tower in Siloam fell on and killed — do you think they were more sinful than all the other people who live in Jerusalem?
“But he replied to him, ‘Sir,[fn] leave it this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.
When Jesus saw her, he called out to her,[fn] “Woman, you are free of your disability.”
But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, responded by telling the crowd, “There are six days when work should be done; therefore come on those days and be healed and not on the Sabbath day.”
But the Lord answered him and said, “Hypocrites! Doesn't each one of you untie his ox or donkey from the feeding trough on the Sabbath and lead it to water?
“Satan has bound this woman, a daughter of Abraham, for eighteen years — shouldn't she be untied from this bondage[fn] on the Sabbath day? ”
When he had said these things, all his adversaries were humiliated, but the whole crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things he was doing.
“Lord,” someone asked him, “are only a few people going to be saved? ”
He said to them,
“once the homeowner gets up and shuts the door. Then you will stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up for us! ' He will answer you, ‘I don't know you or where you're from.'
“There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place, when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown out.
“See, your house is abandoned to you. I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when[fn] you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord'! ”
In response, Jesus asked the law experts and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? ”
“The one who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,' and then in humiliation, you will proceed to take the lowest place.
“But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.' You will then be honored in the presence of all the other guests.
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
“But without exception[fn] they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.'
“So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.'
“ ‘Master,' the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there's still room.'
“Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.
“It isn't fit for the soil or for the manure pile; they throw it out. Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”
“The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.' So he distributed the assets[fn] to them.
“Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living.
So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.
The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.'
“But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
“because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found! ' So they began to celebrate.
“Now his older son was in the field; as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
“‘Your brother is here,' he told him, ‘and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'[fn]
“Then he became angry and didn't want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him.
“But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends.
“But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets[fn] with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.'
“ ‘Son,'[fn] he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
“But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' ”
“Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I'm not strong enough to dig; I'm ashamed to beg.
“ ‘A hundred measures of olive oil,' he said.
“ ‘Take your invoice,' he told him, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.'
“Next he asked another, ‘How much do you owe? '
“ ‘A hundred measures of wheat,' he said.
“ ‘Take your invoice,' he told him, ‘and write eighty.'
“The master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age are more shrewd than the children of light in dealing with their own people.[fn]
“Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much.
And he told them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly admired by people is revolting in God's sight.
“The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is urgently invited to enter it.[fn]
“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and everyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
“One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's side.[fn] The rich man also died and was buried.
“ ‘No, father Abraham,' he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
“Be on your guard. If your brother sins,[fn] rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.
“If you have faith the size of[fn] a mustard seed,” the Lord said, “you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.
“For as the lightning flashes from horizon to horizon and lights up the sky, so the Son of Man will be in his day.
“People went on eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage until the day Noah boarded the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
“On that day, a man on the housetop, whose belongings are in the house, must not come down to get them. Likewise the man who is in the field must not turn back.
“I tell you, on that night two will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left.
“Where, Lord? ” they asked him.
He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”
“Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them?[fn]
“I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? ”
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
“The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself:[fn] ‘God, I thank you that I'm not like other people — greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me,[fn] a sinner! '
“I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus, however, invited them: “Let the little children come to me, and don't stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
When Jesus heard this, he told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Seeing that he became sad,[fn] Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!
So he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left a house, wife or brothers or sisters, parents or children because of the kingdom of God,
Jesus stopped and commanded that he be brought to him. When he came closer, he asked him,
Instantly he could see, and he began to follow him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.”
“Today salvation has come to this house,” Jesus told him, “because he too is a son of Abraham.
“And another came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina. I have kept it safe in a cloth
Blessed is the King who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest heaven!
and he said, “It is written, my house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves! ”
but they could not find a way to do it, because all the people were captivated by what they heard.
and said to him, “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who is it who gave you this authority? ”
“But if we say, ‘Of human origin,' all the people will stone us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet.”
And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps[fn] they will respect him.'
“But when the tenant farmers saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Let's kill him, so that the inheritance will be ours.'
“So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
But he looked at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of this Scripture:[fn]
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone?
“Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”
“Well then,” he told them, “give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother has a wife, and dies childless, his brother should take the wife and produce offspring for his brother.
Then he said, “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,' and, ‘The time is near.' Don't follow them.
“Listen,” he said to them, “when you've entered the city, a man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him into the house he enters.
“Tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover with my disciples? ” '
“For the Son of Man will go away as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed! ”
So they began to argue among themselves which of them it could be who was going to do it.
But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them have themselves called[fn] ‘Benefactors.'
“It is not to be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever is greatest among you should become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving.
“For who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Isn't it the one at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
“I tell you, Peter,” he said, “the rooster will not crow today until[fn] you deny three times that you know me.”
Then he said to them, “But now, whoever has a money-bag should take it, and also a traveling bag. And whoever doesn't have a sword should sell his robe and buy one.
Being in anguish, he prayed more fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.[fn]
While he was still speaking, suddenly a mob came, and one of the Twelve named Judas was leading them. He came near Jesus to kiss him,
They seized him, led him away, and brought him into the high priest's house. Meanwhile Peter was following at a distance.
They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, and Peter sat among them.
After a little while, someone else saw him and said, “You're one of them too.”
“Man, I am not! ” Peter said.
But Peter said, “Man, I don't know what you're talking about! ” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.
Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter. So Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.”
They said, “If you are the Messiah, tell us.”
But he said to them, “If I do tell you, you will not believe.
“But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”
They all asked, “Are you, then, the Son of God? ”
And he said to them, “You say that I am.”
So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews? ”
He answered him, “You say so.”[fn]
Pilate then told the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no grounds for charging this man.”
Herod was very glad to see Jesus; for a long time he had wanted to see him because he had heard about him and was hoping to see some miracle[fn] performed by him.
Then Herod, with his soldiers, treated him with contempt, mocked him, dressed him in bright clothing, and sent him back to Pilate.
That very day Herod and Pilate became friends.[fn] Previously, they had been enemies.
A third time he said to them, “Why? What has this man done wrong? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore, I will have him whipped and then release him.”
But turning to them, Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children.
Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.”[fn] And they divided his clothes and cast lots.
The people stood watching, and even the leaders were scoffing: “He saved others; let him save himself if this is God's Messiah, the Chosen One! ”
Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at[fn] him: “Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us! ”
But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don't you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment?
And Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” Saying this, he breathed his last.
When the centurion saw what happened, he began to glorify God, saying, “This man really was righteous! ”[fn]
Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he stooped to look in, he saw only the linen cloths.[fn] So he went away, amazed at what had happened.
“But we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem Israel. Besides all this, it's the third day since these things happened.
He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him.
(John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.' ”)
No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father's side[fn] — he has revealed him.
“What then? ” they asked him. “Are you Elijah? ”
“I am not,” he said.
“Are you the Prophet? ”
“No,” he answered.
He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord — just as Isaiah the prophet said.”
So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren't the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet? ”
“I baptize with[fn] water,” John answered them. “Someone stands among you, but you don't know him.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
“I didn't know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on — he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'
When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for? ”
They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying? ”
The next day Jesus[fn] decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me.”
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth? ” Nathanael asked him.
“Come and see,” Philip answered.
Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
“What has this concern of yours to do with me,[fn] woman? ” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.”
When the headwaiter tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from — though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom
Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
And his disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal for your house will consume me.
Therefore the Jews said, “This temple took forty-six years to build,[fn] and will you raise it up in three days? ”
So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the statement Jesus had made.
This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”
“How can anyone be born when he is old? ” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born? ”
“The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
“No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven — the Son of Man.[fn]
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
“Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
“For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it,[fn] so that his deeds may not be exposed.
“But anyone who lives by[fn] the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”
After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the Judean countryside, where he spent time with them and baptized.
John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were coming and being baptized,
“You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I've been sent ahead of him.'
“He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom's friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly[fn] at the groom's voice. So this joy of mine is complete.
The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth is earthly and speaks in earthly terms.[fn] The one who comes from heaven is above all.
For the one whom God sent speaks God's words, since he[fn] gives the Spirit without measure.
The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son[fn] will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.
When Jesus[fn] learned that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John
Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, worn out from his journey, sat down at the well. It was about noon.[fn]
Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,' you would ask him, and he would give you living water.”
“I don't have a husband,” she answered.
“You have correctly said, ‘I don't have a husband,' ” Jesus said.
“Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
“But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.[fn] Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him.
The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” Jesus told them.
“The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
And they told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, since we have heard for ourselves and know that this really is the Savior of the world.”[fn]
He went again to Cana of Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a certain royal official whose son was ill at Capernaum.
“Go,” Jesus told him, “your son will live.” The man believed what[fn] Jesus said to him and departed.
He asked them at what time he got better. “Yesterday at one in the afternoon[fn] the fever left him,” they answered.
The father realized this was the very hour at which Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” So he himself believed, along with his whole household.
Now this was also the second sign Jesus performed after he came from Judea to Galilee.
When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well? ”
“Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I'm coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”
Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.
Now that day was the Sabbath,
But the man who was healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.[fn]
After this, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn't happen to you.”
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father[fn] does, the Son likewise does these things.
“For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him greater works than these so that you will be amazed.
“And just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom he wants.
“so that all people may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
“Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.
“For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted to the Son to have life in himself.
“There is another who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony he gives about me is true.
“John[fn] was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
“But I have a greater testimony than John's because of the works that the Father has given me to accomplish. These very works I am doing testify about me that the Father has sent me.
“The Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You have not heard his voice at any time, and you haven't seen his form.
“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope.
So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat? ”
Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii[fn] worth of bread wouldn't be enough for each of them to have a little.”
Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”
There was plenty of grass in that place; so they sat down. The men numbered about five thousand.
Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks he distributed them to those who were seated — so also with the fish, as much as they wanted.
When the people saw the sign[fn] he had done, they said, “This truly is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. Darkness had already set in, but Jesus had not yet come to them.
The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw there had been only one boat.[fn] They also saw that Jesus had not boarded the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone off alone.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw[fn] the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
“Don't work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”
Jesus replied, “This is the work of God — that you believe in the one he has sent.”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn't give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
“For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.
“Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out.
“For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Therefore the Jews started grumbling about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
They were saying, “Isn't this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven'? ”
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws[fn] him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
“It is written in the Prophets: And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father comes to me —
“not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father.
“This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die.
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves.
“The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day,
“Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
“This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna[fn] your ancestors ate — and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”
Therefore, when many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard. Who can accept[fn] it? ”
Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, asked them, “Does this offend you?
“But there are some among you who don't believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning those who did not[fn] believe and the one who would betray him.)
After this, Jesus traveled in Galilee, since he did not want to travel in Judea because the Jews were trying to kill him.
“The world cannot hate you, but it does hate me because I testify about it — that its works are evil.
“Go up to the festival yourselves. I'm not going up to this festival,[fn] because my time has not yet fully come.”
“The one who speaks on his own seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
“If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses won't be broken, are you angry at me because I made a man entirely well on the Sabbath?
“Yet, look, he's speaking publicly and they're saying nothing to him. Can it be true that the authorities know he is the Messiah?
“But we know where this man is from. When the Messiah comes, nobody will know where he is from.”
As he was teaching in the temple, Jesus cried out, “You know me and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on my own, but the one who sent me is true. You don't know him;
However, many from the crowd believed in him and said, “When the Messiah comes, he won't perform more signs than this man has done, will he? ”
Then Jesus said, “I am only with you for a short time. Then I'm going to the one who sent me.
“What is this remark he made: ‘You will look for me, and you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come'? ”
On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me[fn] and drink.
“The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”
Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some said, “Surely the Messiah doesn't come from Galilee, does he?
“Doesn't the Scripture say that the Messiah comes from David's offspring[fn] and from the town of Bethlehem, where David lived? ”
Nicodemus — the one who came to him previously and who was one of them — said to them,
“Our law doesn't judge a man before it hears from him and knows what he's doing, does it? ”
At dawn he went to the temple again, and all the people were coming to him. He sat down and began to teach them.
They asked this to trap him, in order that they might have evidence to accuse him.
Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with his finger.
When they persisted in questioning him, he stood up and said to them, “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.”
When Jesus stood up, he said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? ”
“No one, Lord,”[fn] she answered.
“Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus. “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”]
Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”
“And if I do judge, my judgment is true, because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.
“I am the one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”
Then they asked him, “Where is your Father? ”
“You know neither me nor my Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”
“Who are you? ” they questioned.
“Exactly what I've been telling you from the very beginning,” Jesus told them.
“I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him — these things I tell the world.”
So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own. But just as the Father taught me, I say these things.
“The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word,[fn] you really are my disciples.
“I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you.
“Our father is Abraham,” they replied.
“If you were Abraham's children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did.
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn't come on my own, but he sent me.
“You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature,[fn] because he is a liar and the father of lies.
“The one who is from God listens to God's words. This is why you don't listen, because you are not from God.”
“If I glorify myself,” Jesus answered, “my glory is nothing. My Father — about whom you say, ‘He is our God' — he is the one who glorifies me.
His neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar said, “Isn't this the one who used to sit begging? ”
He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.' So when I went and washed I received my sight.”
Then the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight.
“He put mud on my eyes,” he told them. “I washed and I can see.”
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn't keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a sinful man perform such signs? ” And there was a division among them.
Again they asked the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes? ”
“He's a prophet,” he said.
They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How then does he now see? ”
So a second time they summoned the man who had been blind and told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
“We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man — we don't know where he's from.”
“This is an amazing thing! ” the man told them. “You don't know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes.
“We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he listens to him.
Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.”
“If you were blind,” Jesus told them, “you wouldn't have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,' your sin remains.
“Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn't enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber.
“The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.
“A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
“The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn't own the sheep, leaves them[fn] and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them.
“just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
“This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.
“I did tell you and you don't believe,” Jesus answered them. “The works that I do in my Father's name testify about me.
“My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these works are you stoning me? ”
“If he called those to whom the word of God came ‘gods' — and the Scripture cannot be broken —
“do you say, ‘You are blaspheming' to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God?
“But if I am doing them and you don't believe me, believe the works. This way you will know and understand[fn] that the Father is in me and I in the Father.”
Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick.
When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm on my way to wake him up.”
Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep.
Then Thomas (called “Twin”[fn]) said to his fellow disciples, “Let's go too so that we may die with him.”
Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.
“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”
Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him.
As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died! ”
But some of them said, “Couldn't he who opened the blind man's eyes also have kept this man from dying? ”
“Remove the stone,” Jesus said.
Martha, the dead man's sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.”
Jesus said to her, “Didn't I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? ”
So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me.
The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”
So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and were saying, “What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs?
Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews but departed from there to the countryside near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and he stayed there with the disciples.
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus[fn] was, the one Jesus had raised from the dead.
So they gave a dinner for him there; Martha was serving them, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him.
Then a large crowd of the Jews learned he was there. They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead.
The next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
they took palm branches and went out to meet him. They kept shouting:
“Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord — the King of Israel! ”
Do not be afraid,
Daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming,
sitting on a donkey's colt.
Meanwhile, the crowd, which had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify.[fn]
Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You see? You've accomplished nothing. Look, the world has gone after him! ”
“Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.
“The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
“If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant also will be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
The crowd standing there heard it and said it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
Then the crowd replied to him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah will remain forever. So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man? ”
Jesus answered, “The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn't overtake you. The one who walks in darkness doesn't know where he's going.
This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, who said:[fn]
Lord, who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Jesus cried out, “The one who believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me.
“I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness.
“The one who rejects me and doesn't receive my sayings has this as his judge:[fn] The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
“For I have not spoken on my own, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a command to say everything I have said.
“I know that his command is eternal life. So the things that I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me.”
Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God.
“One who has bathed,” Jesus told him, “doesn't need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.”
“You call me Teacher and Lord — and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am.
“So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
“I'm not speaking about all of you; I know those I have chosen. But the Scripture must be fulfilled: The one who eats my bread[fn] has raised his heel against me.
“Truly I tell you, whoever receives anyone I send receives me, and the one who receives me receives him who sent me.”
When Jesus had said this, he was troubled in his spirit and testified, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”
Jesus replied, “He's the one I give the piece of bread to after I have dipped it.” When he had dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas, Simon Iscariot's son.[fn]
After Judas ate the piece of bread, Satan entered him. So Jesus told him, “What you're doing, do quickly.”
Since Judas kept the money-bag, some thought that Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival,” or that he should give something to the poor.
When he had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him.
“If God is glorified in him,[fn] God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father'?
“Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works.
“Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe[fn] because of the works themselves.
“Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.
“Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
“He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn't see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be[fn] in you.
“In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too.
“The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.”
Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it you're going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world? ”
Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
“The one who doesn't love me will not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don't let your heart be troubled or fearful.
“You have heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
“I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me.[fn]
“On the contrary, so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do as the Father commanded me.
“Get up; let's leave this place.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.
“My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be[fn] my disciples.
“I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn't know what his master[fn] is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father.
“You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.
“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.
“But this happened so that the statement written in their law might be fulfilled: They hated me for no reason.
“When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father — the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father — he will testify about me.
“They will ban you from the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God.
“Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don't go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you.
“Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I told you that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.
Jesus knew they wanted to ask him, and so he said to them, “Are you asking one another about what I said, ‘In a little while, you will not see me; again in a little while, you will see me'?
“Truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.
“For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.[fn]
“Indeed, an hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you,
“While I was with them, I was protecting them by your name that you have given me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction,[fn] so that the Scripture may be fulfilled.
“I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
“May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be[fn] in us, so that the world may believe you sent me.
“I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.
“Righteous Father, the world has not known you. However, I have known you, and they have known that you sent me.
Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples.
So Judas took a company of soldiers and some officials[fn] from the chief priests and the Pharisees and came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
“Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.
“I am he,” Jesus told them.
Judas, who betrayed him, was also standing with them.
This was to fulfill the words he had said: “I have not lost one of those you have given me.”
At that, Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword away! Am I not to drink the cup the Father has given me? ”
Then the company of soldiers, the commander, and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus and tied him up.
Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be better for one man to die for the people.
Simon Peter was following Jesus, as was another disciple. That disciple was an acquaintance of the high priest; so he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard.
But Peter remained standing outside by the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the girl who was the doorkeeper and brought Peter in.
Now the servants and the officials had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold. They were standing there warming themselves, and Peter was standing with them, warming himself.
Pilate told them, “You take him and judge him according to your law.”
“It's not legal for us to put anyone to death,” the Jews declared.
They said this so that Jesus's words might be fulfilled indicating what kind of death he was going to die.
Then Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the king of the Jews? ”
“I'm not a Jew, am I? ” Pilate replied. “Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done? ”
“You are a king then? ” Pilate asked.
“You say that I'm a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
“What is truth? ” said Pilate.
After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no grounds for charging him.
They shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas! ” Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.[fn]
Pilate went outside again and said to them, “Look, I'm bringing him out to you to let you know I find no grounds for charging him.”
Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man! ”
When the chief priests and the temple servants[fn] saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify! ”
Pilate responded, “Take him and crucify him yourselves, since I find no grounds for charging him.”
He went back into the headquarters and asked Jesus, “Where are you from? ” But Jesus did not give him an answer.
So Pilate said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don't you know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you? ”
“You would have no authority over me at all,” Jesus answered him, “if it hadn't been given you from above. This is why the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”
From that moment Pilate kept trying[fn] to release him. But the Jews shouted, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Anyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar! ”
When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside. He sat down on the judge's seat in a place called the Stone Pavement (but in Aramaic,[fn] Gabbatha).
It was the preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon.[fn] Then he told the Jews, “Here is your king! ”
They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him! ”
Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king? ”
“We have no king but Caesar! ” the chief priests answered.
Pilate also had a sign made and put on the cross. It said: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.
So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Don't write, ‘The king of the Jews,' but that he said, ‘I am the king of the Jews.' ”
When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier. They also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.”
Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, “I'm thirsty.”
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows he is telling the truth.
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus — but secretly because of his fear of the Jews — asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus's body. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away.
Nicodemus (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds[fn] of myrrh and aloes.
So she went running to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, “They've taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they've put him! ”
The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and got to the tomb first.
The other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, then also went in, saw, and believed.
“Woman,” Jesus said to her, “why are you crying? Who is it that you're seeking? ”
Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've put him, and I will take him away.”
When it was evening on that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.”
But Thomas (called “Twin”[fn]), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples were telling him, “We've seen the Lord! ”
But he said to them, “If I don't see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
A week later his disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed.[fn] Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book.
But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,[fn] and that by believing you may have life in his name.
After this, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias.[fn] He revealed himself in this way:
Simon Peter, Thomas (called “Twin”[fn]), Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, Zebedee's sons, and two others of his disciples were together.
“Friends,”[fn] Jesus called to them, “you don't have any fish, do you? ”
“No,” they answered.
“Cast the net on the right side of the boat,” he told them, “and you'll find some.” So they did,[fn] and they were unable to haul it in because of the large number of fish.
The disciple, the one Jesus loved, said to Peter, “It is the Lord! ”
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tied his outer clothing around him (for he had taken it off) and plunged into the sea.
“Come and have breakfast,” Jesus told them. None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you? ” because they knew it was the Lord.
When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John,[fn] do you love me more than these? ”
“Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.”
“Feed my lambs,” he told him.
He asked him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me? ”
Peter was grieved that he asked him the third time, “Do you love me? ” He said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
“Feed my sheep,” Jesus said.
So Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them, the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is the one that's going to betray you? ”
“If I want him to remain until I come,” Jesus answered, “what is that to you? As for you, follow me.”
So this rumor[fn] spread to the brothers and sisters that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not tell him that he would not die, but, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? ”
This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which, if every one of them were written down, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books[fn] that would be written.
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.
They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”
When they arrived, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.
“For it is written in the Book of Psalms:
Let his dwelling become desolate;
let no one live in it; and
Let someone else take his position.
“Therefore, from among the men who have accompanied us during the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us —
Then they cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias and he was added to the eleven apostles.
Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them, “Fellow Jews and all you residents of Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and pay attention to my words.
“And it will be in the last days, says God,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all people;
then your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
“The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.
“Fellow Israelites, listen to these words: This Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through him, just as you yourselves know.
“God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death.
“Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn an oath to him to seat one of his descendants[fn] on his throne.
“For it was not David who ascended into the heavens, but he himself says:
The Lord declared to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
“For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number[fn] those who were being saved.
and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.
While he[fn] was holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astonished, ran toward them in what is called Solomon's Colonnade.
When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness?
“The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him.
“You killed the source[fn] of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this.
“In this way God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets — that his Messiah would suffer.
“Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning.
“Moses said:[fn] The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to everything he tells you.
“You are the sons[fn] of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, And all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.
“God raised up his servant[fn] and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”
While they were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple police, and the Sadducees confronted them,
But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men[fn] came to about five thousand.
with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the members of the high-priestly family.
“let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead — by him this man is standing here before you healthy.
Peter and John answered them, “Whether it's right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide;
When they heard this, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them.
“You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David your servant:[fn]
Why do the Gentiles rage
and the peoples plot futile things?
When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly.
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas (which is translated Son of Encouragement),
“Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land?
When he heard these words, Ananias dropped dead, and a great fear came on all who heard.
Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
Then the high priest rose up. He and all who were with him, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.
Hearing this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.
When the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin — the full council of the Israelites — and sent orders to the jail to have them brought.
Then the commander went with the servants and brought them in without force, because they were afraid the people might stone them.
After they brought them in, they had them stand before the Sanhedrin, and the high priest asked,
“The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had murdered by hanging him on a tree.
“God exalted this man to his right hand as ruler and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
“We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”
“After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and attracted a following. He also perished, and all his followers were scattered.
This proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch.
So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.
They also presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the law.
“For we heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”
“Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,
“God spoke in this way: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and they would enslave and oppress them for four hundred years.
“I will judge the nation that they will serve as slaves, God said. After this, they will come out and worship me in this place.
“The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him
“As the time was approaching to fulfill the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people flourished and multiplied in Egypt
“He assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.
“But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?
“When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he was approaching to look at it, the voice of the Lord came:
“I am the God of your ancestors — the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.
“The Lord said to him: Take off the sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.
“This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge? — this one God sent as a ruler and a deliverer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
“This is the Moses who said to the Israelites: God[fn] will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.
“He is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors. He received living oracles to give to us.
“They told Aaron: Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what's happened to him.
“God turned away and gave them up to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
House of Israel, did you bring me offerings and sacrifices
for forty years in the wilderness?
“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.
“Our ancestors in turn received it and with Joshua brought it in when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them, until the days of David.
“but the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth my footstool.
What sort of house will you build for me?
says the Lord,
or what will be my resting place?
Even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he followed Philip everywhere and was amazed as he observed the signs and great miracles that were being performed.
When Simon saw that the Spirit[fn] was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money,
“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you're reading? ”
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me? ” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
The eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about — himself or someone else? ”
Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.
As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there's water. What would keep me from being baptized? ”[fn]
So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.
When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing.
Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest
“Who are you, Lord? ” Saul said.
“I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied.
There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.”
“Here I am, Lord,” he replied.
“Get up and go to the street called Straight,” the Lord said to him, “to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there.
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.
Ananias went and entered the house. He placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
All who heard him were astounded and said, “Isn't this the man in Jerusalem who was causing havoc for those who called on this name and came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests? ”
But Saul grew stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed,”[fn] and immediately he got up.
Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down, prayed, and turning toward the body said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up.
Staring at him in awe, he said, “What is it, Lord? ”
The angel told him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity have ascended as a memorial offering before God.
When the angel who spoke to him had gone, he called two of his household servants and a devout soldier, who was one of those who attended him.
“No, Lord! ” Peter said. “For I have never eaten anything impure and ritually unclean.”
Again, a second time, the voice said to him, “What God has made clean, do not call impure.”
While Peter was deeply perplexed about what the vision he had seen might mean, right away the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions to Simon's house, stood at the gate.
The following day he entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.
Peter said to them, “You know it's forbidden for a Jewish man to associate with or visit a foreigner, but God has shown me that I must not call any person impure or unclean.
“but in every nation the person who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
“how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the devil, because God was with him.
“He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead.
“But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call impure.'
“If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God? ”
When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”
When Herod was about to bring him out for trial, that very night Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison.
“Get dressed,” the angel told him, “and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Wrap your cloak around you,” he told him, “and follow me.”
After they passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him.
When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.”
“You're out of your mind! ” they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true, and they said, “It's his angel.”
Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.
Motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Tell these things to James and the brothers,” he said, and he left and went to another place.
At daylight, there was a great commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.
On an appointed day, dressed in royal robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a speech to them.
Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
But Elymas the sorcerer (that is the meaning of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
But Saul — also called Paul — filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at Elymas
Then, when he saw what happened, the proconsul believed, because he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
“The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors, made the people prosper during their stay in the land of Egypt, and led them out of it with a mighty[fn] arm.
“Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
“From this man's descendants, as he promised, God brought to Israel the Savior, Jesus.[fn]
“Brothers and sisters, children of Abraham's race, and those among you who fear God, it is to us that the word of this salvation has been sent.
“God has fulfilled this for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second Psalm:
You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.[fn]
“Everyone who believes is justified[fn] through him from everything that you could not be justified from through the law of Moses.
Paul and Barnabas boldly replied, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we are turning to the Gentiles.
“For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
I have made you
a light for the Gentiles
to bring salvation
to the ends of the earth.”
After they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported everything God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.
After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you,[fn] that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe.
“And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he also did to us.
The whole assembly became silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul describe all the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
“Simeon[fn] has reported how God first intervened to take from the Gentiles a people for his name.
Paul wanted Timothy to go with him; so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek.
After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.
After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods.
When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don't harm yourself, because we're all here! ”
They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.”
The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders for you to be released. So come out now and go in peace.”
But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without a trial, although we are Roman citizens, and threw us in jail. And now are they going to send us away secretly? Certainly not! On the contrary, let them come themselves and escort us out.”
explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.”
But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul at Berea, they came there too, agitating and upsetting[fn] the crowds.
Then the brothers and sisters immediately sent Paul away to go to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed on there.
Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some said, “What is this ignorant show-off[fn] trying to say? ”
Others replied, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities” — because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect.
“The God who made the world and everything in it — he is Lord of heaven and earth — does not live in shrines made by hands.
“Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent,
However, some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word[fn] and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.
Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.
The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don't be afraid, but keep on speaking and don't be silent.
As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews.
After staying for some time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken.
Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded.
After these events, Paul resolved by the Spirit[fn] to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem. “After I've been there,” he said, “It is necessary for me to see Rome as well.”
“You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods.
Some Jews in the crowd gave instructions to Alexander[fn] after they pushed him to the front. Motioning with his hand, Alexander wanted to make his defense to the people.
When the city clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, “People of Ephesus! What person is there who doesn't know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great[fn] Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven?
After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and after saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia.
On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.
But Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, “Don't be alarmed, because he's alive.”
For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost.
Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
After greeting them, he reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
So the next day, Paul took the men, having purified himself along with them, and entered the temple, announcing the completion of the purification days when the offering would be made for each of them.
shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place. What's more, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”
For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
Then the commander approached, took him into custody, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done.
As he was about to be brought into the barracks, Paul said to the commander, “Am I allowed to say something to you? ”
He replied, “You know how to speak Greek?
“Aren't you the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led four thousand men of the Assassins into the wilderness? ”
Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Now I ask you, let me speak to the people.”
After he had given permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When there was a great hush, he addressed them in Aramaic:[fn]
“as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.
“I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord? '
“He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.'
“I said, ‘What should I do, Lord? '
“The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.'
“And he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the words from his mouth,
the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with the scourge to discover the reason they were shouting against him like this.
As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned? ”
When the centurion heard this, he went and reported to the commander, saying, “What are you going to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.”
The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen? ”
“Yes,” he said.
The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a large amount of money.”
“But I was born a citizen,” Paul said.
So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. The commander too was alarmed when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him.
Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience to this day.”
The high priest Ananias ordered those who were standing next to him to strike him on the mouth.
Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You are sitting there judging me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law are you ordering me to be struck? ”
“I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest,” replied Paul. “For it is written, You must not speak evil of a ruler of your people.”
When Paul realized that one part of them were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he cried out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am being judged because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead! ”
When the dispute became violent, the commander feared that Paul might be torn apart by them and ordered the troops to go down, take him away from them, and bring him into the barracks.
The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, “Have courage! For as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so it is necessary for you to testify in Rome.”
But the son of Paul's sister, hearing about their ambush, came and entered the barracks and reported it to Paul.
Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander, because he has something to report to him.”
So he took him, brought him to the commander, and said, “The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you.”
The commander took him by the hand, led him aside, and inquired privately, “What is it you have to report to me? ”
So the commander dismissed the young man and instructed him, “Don't tell anyone that you have informed me about this.”
Five days later Ananias the high priest came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. These men presented their case against Paul to the governor.
When Paul was called in, Tertullus began to accuse him and said, “We enjoy great peace because of you, and reforms are taking place for the benefit of this nation because of your foresight.
When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied, “Because I know you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I am glad to offer my defense in what concerns me.
Since Felix was well informed about the Way, he adjourned the hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.”
Several days later, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and listened to him on the subject of faith in Christ Jesus.
Now as he spoke about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became afraid and replied, “Leave for now, but when I have an opportunity I'll call for you.”
After two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix, and because Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison.
Festus, however, answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was about to go there shortly.
But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, replied to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to be tried before me there on these charges? ”
Paul replied, “I am standing at Caesar's tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as even you yourself know very well.
Then after Festus conferred with his council, he replied, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you will go.”
Several days later, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and paid a courtesy call on Festus.
Since they were staying there several days, Festus presented Paul's case to the king, saying, “There's a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix.
“I answered them that it is not the Roman custom to give someone up[fn] before the accused faces the accusers and has an opportunity for a defense against the charges.
“Instead they had some disagreements with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, a dead man Paul claimed to be alive.
So the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the auditorium with the military commanders and prominent men of the city. When Festus gave the command, Paul was brought in.
Then Festus said, “King Agrippa and all men present with us, you see this man. The whole Jewish community has appealed to me concerning him, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he should not live any longer.
Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”
Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:
“I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord? '
“And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.
“that the Messiah would suffer, and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”
As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You're out of your mind, Paul! Too much study is driving you mad.”
But Paul replied, “I'm not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. On the contrary, I'm speaking words of truth and good judgment.
“For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak boldly to him. For I am convinced that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this was not done in a corner.
Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily? ”[fn]
“I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty,[fn] not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am — except for these chains.”
and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is not doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”
Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
The next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends to receive their care.
By now much time had passed, and the voyage was already dangerous. Since the Day of Atonement[fn] was already over, Paul gave his advice
But the centurion paid attention to the captain and the owner of the ship rather than to what Paul said.
But before long, a fierce wind called the “northeaster” rushed down from the island.
Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, “You men should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete and sustain this damage and loss.
“and said, ‘Don't be afraid, Paul. It is necessary for you to appear before Caesar. And indeed, God has graciously given you all those who are sailing with you.'
Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”
When it was about daylight, Paul urged them all to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting and going without food, having eaten nothing.
But the centurion kept them from carrying out their plan because he wanted to save Paul, and so he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.
When the local people saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man, no doubt, is a murderer. Even though he has escaped the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”
Publius's father was in bed suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, and praying and laying his hands on him, he healed him.
Now the brothers and sisters from there had heard the news about us and had come to meet us as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.
God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in telling the good news about his Son — that I constantly mention you,
since what can be known[fn] about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.
Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.
And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right.
Therefore, every one of you[fn] who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.
on the day when God judges what people have kept secret, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.
For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh.
On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart — by the Spirit, not the letter.[fn] That person's praise is not from people but from God.
Absolutely not! Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar, as it is written:
That you may be justified in your words
and triumph when you judge.
All have turned away;
all alike have become worthless.
There is no one who does what is good,
not even one.
Their throat is an open grave;
they deceive with their tongues.
Vipers' venom is under their lips.
God presented him as the mercy seat[fn] by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.
Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,
since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
Likewise, David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness.
because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.
But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.[fn]
Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam's transgression. He is a type of the Coming One.
If by the one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Since I am speaking to those who know the law, brothers and sisters, don't you know that the law rules over someone as long as he lives?
For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband.
So then, if she is married to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she is married to another man, she is not an adulteress.
What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! But I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh,[fn] sold as a slave under sin.
For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering,[fn]
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through[fn] his Spirit who lives in you.
And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.
Now it is not as though the word of God has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.
not from works but from the one who calls — she was told, The older will serve the younger.
On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this? ”
Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?
And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction?
But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,
Though the number of Israelites
is like the sand of the sea,
only the remnant will be saved;
As it is written,
Look, I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over
and a rock to trip over,
and the one who believes on him
will not be put to shame.
since Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them.
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him.
But I ask, “Did they not hear? ” Yes, they did:
Their voice has gone out to the whole earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah — how he pleads with God against Israel?
But what was God's answer to him? I have left seven thousand for myself who have not bowed down to Baal.
as it is written,
God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that cannot see
and ears that cannot hear,
to this day.
And even they, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God has the power to graft them in again.
And in this way all[fn] Israel will be saved, as it is written,
The Deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.
if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.
But
If your enemy is hungry, feed him.
If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
For in so doing
you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.
So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God's command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves.
Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat, and one who does not eat must not judge one who does, because God has accepted him.
Who are you to judge another's household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will stand, because the Lord is able[fn] to make him stand.
Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord.[fn] Whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat it, and he gives thanks to God.
For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ died.
It is a good thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.[fn]
Whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.
But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith,[fn] and everything that is not from faith is sin.
For even Christ did not please himself. On the contrary, as it is written, The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.
Now may the God who gives[fn] endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus,
Therefore welcome one another, just as[fn] Christ also welcomed you, to the glory of God.
And again, Isaiah says,
The root of Jesse will appear,
the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;
the Gentiles will hope in him.
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
Timothy, my coworker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow countrymen, greet you.
Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you.[fn]
God is faithful; you were called by him into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel — not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law?[fn] Where is the debater of this age? Hasn't God made the world's wisdom foolish?
For since, in God's wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached.
Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world — what is viewed as nothing — to bring to nothing what is viewed as something,
My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom[fn] but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,
On the contrary, we speak God's hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory.
But as it is written,
What no eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no human heart has conceived —
God has prepared these things for those who love him.
Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
The spiritual person, however, can evaluate[fn] everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone.
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given.
So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
Now he who plants and he who waters are one,[fn] and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and that is what you are.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written, He catches the wise in their craftiness;
For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me.
So don't judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.
For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place, like men condemned to die: We have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people.
But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk, but the power of those who are arrogant.
And you are arrogant! Shouldn't you be filled with grief and remove from your congregation the one who did this?
Or don't you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the trivial cases?
“Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will do away with both of them. However, the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
Don't you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh.
Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin[fn] a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.
A husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband.
A wife does not have the right over her own body, but her husband does. In the same way, a husband does not have the right over his own body, but his wife does.
Do not deprive one another — except when you agree for a time, to devote yourselves to[fn] prayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
I wish that all people were as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one person has this gift, another has that.
To the married I give this command — not I, but the Lord — a wife is not to leave[fn] her husband.
But I (not the Lord) say to the rest: If any brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.
For the unbelieving husband is made holy by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy by the husband.[fn] Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy.
But if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. A brother or a sister is not bound in such cases. God has called you[fn] to live in peace.
Let each one live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him.[fn] This is what I command in all the churches.
For he who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord's freedman. Likewise he who is called as a free man is Christ's slave.
This is what I mean, brothers and sisters: The time is limited, so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none,
I want you to be without concerns. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord — how he may please the Lord.
But the married man is concerned about the things of the world — how he may please his wife —
So, then, he who marries his fiancée does well, but he who does not marry will do better.[fn]
A wife is bound[fn] as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wants — only in the Lord.
yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him.
So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, is ruined[fn] by your knowledge.
Isn't he really saying it for our sake? Yes, this is written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing the crop.
In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.
What then is my reward? To preach the gospel and offer it free of charge and not make full use of my rights in the gospel.
Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown.
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.
Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness.
Don't become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party.[fn]
No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.
But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman,[fn] and God is the head of Christ.
For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, and all things come from God.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread,
For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body,[fn] eats and drinks judgment on himself.
And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person.
For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body — so also is Christ.
If the foot should say, “Because I'm not a hand, I don't belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don't need you! ” Or again, the head can't say to the feet, “I don't need you! ”
which our respectable parts do not need.
Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable,
And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, leading, various kinds of tongues.[fn]
On the other hand, the person who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening,[fn] encouragement, and consolation.
The person who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.
I wish all of you spoke in tongues,[fn] but even more that you prophesied. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up.
Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner[fn] to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.
The secrets of his heart will be revealed, and as a result he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is really among you.”
But if something has been revealed to another person sitting there, the first prophet should be silent.
since God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
As in all the churches of the saints,
the women[fn] should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but are to submit themselves, as the law also says.
For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.
When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place:
Death has been swallowed up in victory.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord's work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
I don't want to see you now just in passing, since I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord allows.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and Timothy our[fn] brother:
To the church of God at Corinth, with all the saints who are throughout Achaia.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
He comforts us in all our affliction,[fn] so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you — Silvanus,[fn] Timothy, and I — did not become “Yes and no.” On the contrary, in him it is always “Yes.”
Now it is God who strengthens us together with you in Christ, and who has anointed us.
He has also put his seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.
For if I cause you pain, then who will cheer me other than the one being hurt by me?[fn]
As a result, you should instead forgive and comfort him. Otherwise, he may be overwhelmed by excessive grief.
In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,[fn] who is the image of God.
For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you.
Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.
Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.
And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we[fn] are the temple of the living God, as God said:
I will dwell
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
As it is written: The person who had much did not have too much, and the person who had little did not have too little.
We have sent with him the brother who is praised among all the churches for his gospel ministry.[fn]
The point is this:[fn] The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.
Each person should do as he has decided in his heart — not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.
And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.
Now the one who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will also provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
For if I boast a little too much about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be put to shame.
For it is said, “His letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak and his public speaking amounts to nothing.”
Let such a person consider this: What we are in our letters, when we are absent, we will also be in our actions when we are present.
We, however, will not boast beyond measure but according to the measure of the area of ministry that God has assigned to us, which reaches even to you.
For it is not the one commending himself who is approved, but the one the Lord commends.
But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure[fn] devotion to Christ.
For if a person comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you had not received, or a different gospel, which you had not accepted, you put up with it splendidly!
In Damascus, a ruler[fn] under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to arrest me.
I know a man in Christ who was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether he was in the body or out of the body, I don't know; God knows.
I know that this man — whether in the body or out of the body I don't know; God knows —
I fear that when I come my God will again[fn] humiliate me in your presence, and I will grieve for many who sinned before and have not repented of the moral impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality they practiced.
This is why I am writing these things while absent, so that when I am there I may not have to deal harshly with you, in keeping with the authority the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.
But when God, who from my mother's womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased
They simply kept hearing, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy.”
But not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.
since the one at work in Peter for an apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in me for the Gentiles.
So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard —
Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations[fn] will be blessed through you.
Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.
But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.
My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God[fn] and thus cancel the promise.
For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.
Why, then, was the law given? It was added for the sake of transgressions[fn] until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator.
Is the law therefore contrary to God's promises? Absolutely not! For if the law had been granted with the ability to give life, then righteousness would certainly be on the basis of the law.
The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.
Now I say that as long as the heir is a child, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the owner of everything.
When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
Where, then, is your blessing? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.
But the one by the slave was born as a result of the flesh, while the one by the free woman was born through promise.
But just as then the child born as a result of the flesh persecuted the one born as a result of the Spirit, so also now.
But what does the Scripture say? “Drive out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never be a coheir with the son of the free woman.”
I myself am persuaded in the Lord you will not accept any other view. But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh,
Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,
The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things.
Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.
And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you[fn] in Christ.
and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.
for the fruit of the light[fn] consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth —
for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said:
Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.
because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body.
In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church,
And masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and faithful servant[fn] in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me so that you may be informed.
I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you[fn] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.
Indeed, he was so sick that he nearly died. However, God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.
Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you.
Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things.
Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ.
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
When Christ, who is your[fn] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.
Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,[fn] singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong he has done, and there is no favoritism.
At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains,
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.
Tychicus, our dearly loved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me.
Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you greetings, as does Mark, Barnabas's cousin (concerning whom you have received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him),
and so does Jesus who is called Justus. These alone of the circumcised are my coworkers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. He is always wrestling for you in his prayers, so that you can stand mature and fully assured[fn] in everything God wills.
I, Paul, am writing this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.[fn]
For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith[fn] in God has gone out. Therefore, we don't need to say anything,
You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly we conducted ourselves with you believers.
So we wanted to come to you — even I, Paul, time and again — but Satan hindered us.
For this reason, when I could no longer stand it, I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing.
And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you.
For this is God's will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality,
Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout,[fn] with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In view of this, we always pray for you that our God will make you worthy of his calling, and by his power fulfill your every desire to do good[fn] and your work produced by faith,
He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits[fn] in God's temple, proclaiming that he himself is God.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way,
and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and will bring him to nothing at the appearance of his coming.
But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because from the beginning[fn] God has chosen you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace,
In addition, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you,
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with all of you.
I, Paul, am writing this greeting with my own hand, which is an authenticating mark in every letter; this is how I write.
This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” — and I am the worst of them.
This saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to be an overseer,[fn] he desires a noble work.”
They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods that God created to be received with gratitude by those who believe and know the truth.
For the Scripture says: Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain, and, “The worker is worthy of his wages.”
God will bring this about in his own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords,
who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power,[fn] love, and sound judgment.
May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.
May the Lord grant that he obtain mercy from him on that day. You know very well how much he ministered at Ephesus.
for which I suffer to the point of being bound like a criminal. But the word of God is not bound.
Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, bearing this inscription: The Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone who calls on the name of[fn] the Lord turn away from wickedness.
instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth.
along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured — and yet the Lord rescued me from them all.
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close.
There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.[fn]
Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his works.
But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that I might fully preach the word and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil work and will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
To the pure, everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; in fact, both their mind and conscience are defiled.
to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and in submission to their husbands, so that God's word will not be slandered.
Your message is to be sound beyond reproach, so that any opponent will be ashamed, because he doesn't have anything bad to say about us.
This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works. These are good and profitable for everyone.
For you know that such a person has gone astray and is sinning; he is self-condemned.
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother:
To Philemon our dear friend and coworker,
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways.
but to[fn] the Son:
Your throne, God,
is forever and ever,
and the scepter of your kingdom
is a scepter of justice.
You have loved righteousness
and hated lawlessness;
this is why God, your God,
has anointed you
with the oil of joy
beyond your companions.[fn]
you will roll them up like a cloak,[fn]
and they will be changed like clothing.
But you are the same,
and your years will never end.
For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding[fn] and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment,
For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father.[fn] That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,
For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house.
For we also have received the good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith.[fn]
For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in this way: And on the seventh day God rested from all his works.
For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his.
For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
In the same way, Christ did not exalt himself to become a high priest, but God who said to him,
You are my Son;
today I have become your Father,[fn]
We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand.
Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant.
For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love[fn] you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints — and by continuing to serve them.
For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself:
For people swear by something greater than themselves, and for them a confirming oath ends every dispute.
Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath,
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, met Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the kings,
Now consider how great this man was: even Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the plunder to him.
But one without this[fn] lineage collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.
Now if perfection came through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the law), what further need was there for another priest to appear, said to be according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of Aaron?
Now it is evident that our Lord came from Judah, and Moses said nothing about that tribe concerning priests.
(for the law perfected nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
but he became a priest with an oath made by the one who said to him:
The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever.”
For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promise of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son, who has been perfected forever.
a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord and not man.
But the high priest alone enters the second room, and he does that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
For a will is valid only when people die, since it is never in effect while the one who made it is living.
He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another.
so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but[fn] to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.
Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.
How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane[fn] the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away. For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God.
For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
But they now desire a better place — a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son,
He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.[fn]
By faith he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites.
And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,
The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?
For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness.
Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.
Don't neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.
Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus — the great Shepherd of the sheep — through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
But let him ask in faith without doubting.[fn] For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
but let the rich boast in his humiliation because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
For the sun rises and, together with the scorching wind, dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person will wither away while pursuing his activities.
No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn't tempt anyone.
But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works — this person will be blessed in what he does.
Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn't God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you are a lawbreaker.
And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed[fn] among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says:
God resists the proud
but gives grace to the humble.
Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Don't criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer[fn] defames and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
There is one lawgiver and judge[fn] who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.
Look! The pay that you withheld from the workers who mowed your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Armies.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door!
See, we count as blessed those who have endured.[fn] You have heard of Job's endurance and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about — the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
For
All flesh is like grass,
and all its glory like a flower of the grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls,
For it stands in Scripture:
See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and honored[fn] cornerstone,
and the one who believes in him
will never be put to shame.
Don't let your beauty consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes,
but rather what is inside the heart[fn] — the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.
For the one who wants to love life
and to see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit,
For there has already been enough time spent in doing what the Gentiles choose to do: carrying on in unrestrained behavior, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry.
If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God's words; if anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
For the time has come for judgment to begin with God's household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?
And if a righteous person is saved with difficulty,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?
I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed:
In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with[fn] humility toward one another, because
God resists the proud
but gives grace to the humble.
Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, as does Mark, my son.
since I know that I will soon lay aside my tent, as our Lord Jesus Christ has indeed made clear to me.
For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying “This is my beloved Son,[fn] with whom I am well-pleased! ”
(for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) —
These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.
Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.
The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn't keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old command that you have had from the beginning. The old command is the word you have heard.
The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now.
The one who loves his brother or sister remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.[fn]
But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn't know where he's going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
I have written to you, children,
because you have come to know the Father.
I have written to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the one who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
because you are strong,
God's word remains in you,
and you have conquered the evil one.
And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.
Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son.
No one who denies the Son has the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.
If you know that he is righteous, you know this as well: Everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
See what great love[fn] the Father has given us that we should be called God's children — and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn't know him.
Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
The one who commits[fn] sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the devil's works.
This is how God's children and the devil's children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.
We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.
Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things.
The one who keeps his commands remains in him, and he in him. And the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he has given us.
You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.
We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.
Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
God's love was revealed among us[fn] in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in[fn] us and his love is made complete in us.
And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent his Son as the world's Savior.
And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment.[fn] So the one who fears is not complete in love.
If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.[fn]
And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father[fn] also loves the one born of him.
Who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Jesus Christ — he is the one who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about his Son.
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the one who is born of God keeps him,[fn] and the evil one does not touch him.
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true one.[fn] We are in the true one — that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
The elder:
To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth — and not only I, but also all who know the truth —
Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
Anyone who does not remain in Christ's teaching but goes beyond it does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.
I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have first place among them, does not receive our authority.
Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
Now I want to remind you, although you came to know all these things once and for all, that Jesus[fn] saved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe;
Yet when Michael the archangel was disputing with the devil in an argument about Moses's body, he did not dare utter a slanderous condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you! ”
They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shameful deeds; wandering stars for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved forever.
The revelation of[fn] Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep[fn] what is written in it, because the time is near.
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has set us free[fn] from our sins by his blood,
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
I, John, your brother and partner in the affliction, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
He had seven stars in his right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don't be afraid. I am the First and the Last,
“and the Living One. I was dead, but look — I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.
“Write to the angel[fn] of the church in Ephesus: Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands:
“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in[fn] the paradise of God.
“Write to the angel of the church in Smyrna: Thus says the First and the Last, the one who was dead and came to life:
“Don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will experience affliction for ten days. Be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown[fn] of life.
“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will never be harmed by the second death.
“Write to the angel of the church in Pergamum: Thus says the one who has the sharp, double-edged sword:
“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna.[fn] I will also give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name is inscribed that no one knows except the one who receives it.
“Write to the angel of the church in Thyatira: Thus says the Son of God, the one whose eyes are like a fiery flame and whose feet are like fine bronze:
“I will strike her children dead.[fn] Then all the churches will know that I am the one who examines minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works.
The one who conquers and who keeps my works to the end: I will give him authority over the nations —
“In the same way, the one who conquers will be dressed in white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels.
“Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia: Thus says the Holy One, the true one, the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one opens:
“The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never go out again. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God — the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God — and my new name.
“Write to the angel of the church in Laodicea: Thus says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator[fn] of God's creation:
“For you say, ‘I'm rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,' and you don't realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
“To the one who conquers I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
The one seated[fn] there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian stone. A rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald surrounded the throne.
Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop,[fn] saying,
Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God, the Almighty,
who was, who is, and who is to come.
Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Look, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that he is able to open the scroll and[fn] its seven seals.”
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands.
I looked, and there was a white horse. Its rider held a bow; a crown was given to him, and he went out as a conqueror in order to conquer.[fn]
When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come! ” And I looked, and there was a black horse. Its rider held a set of scales in his hand.
the sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up; and every mountain and island was moved from its place.
For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and they serve him day and night in his temple.
The one seated on the throne will shelter[fn] them:
They will no longer hunger;
they will no longer thirst;
the sun will no longer strike them,
nor will any scorching heat.
For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne
will shepherd them;
he will guide them to springs of the waters of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up in the presence of God from the angel's hand.
The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth. So a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea. So a third of the sea became blood,
The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from heaven. It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water.
The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood. So, many of the people died from the waters, because they had been made bitter.
The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day was without light and also a third of the night.
The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth. The key for the shaft to the abyss was given to him.
He opened the shaft to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great[fn] furnace so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.
They were not permitted to kill them but were to torment them for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion when it stings someone.
In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.
The sixth angel blew his trumpet. From the four[fn] horns of the golden altar that is before God, I heard a voice
say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates.”
Then the angel that I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven.
The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying,
The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom
of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he will reign forever and ever.
The nations were angry,
but your wrath has come.
The time has come
for the dead to be judged
and to give the reward
to your servants the prophets,
to the saints, and to those who fear your name,
both small and great,
and the time has come to destroy
those who destroy the earth.
Its tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth it might devour her child.
Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought,
So the great dragon was thrown out — the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say,
The salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Christ
have now come,
because the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them
before our God day and night,
has been thrown down.
Therefore rejoice, you heavens,
and you who dwell in them!
Woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has come down to you
with great fury,
because he knows his time is short.
When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he persecuted[fn] the woman who had given birth to the male child.
From his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river flowing after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood.
But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon had spewed from his mouth.
So the dragon was furious with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring[fn] — those who keep the commands of God and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus.
The beast I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority.
so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast's name or the number of its name.
“and the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever. There is no rest[fn] day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or anyone who receives the mark of its name.
Another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the one who was seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the time to reap has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe.”
So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
Yet another angel, who had authority over fire, came from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the vineyard of the earth, because its grapes have ripened.”
So the angel swung his sickle at the earth and gathered the grapes from the vineyard of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath.
Then I saw another great and awe-inspiring sign[fn] in heaven: seven angels with the seven last plagues; for with them God's wrath will be completed.
After this I looked, and the heavenly temple — the tabernacle of testimony — was opened.
Then the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
The first went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and severely painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped its image.
The second[fn] poured out his bowl into the sea. It turned to blood like that of a dead person, and all life in the sea died.
The third[fn] poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.
The fourth[fn] poured out his bowl on the sun. It was allowed to scorch people with fire,
The sixth[fn] poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east.
“Look, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who is alert and remains clothed[fn] so that he may not go around naked and people see his shame.”
Then the angel said to me, “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast, with the seven heads and the ten horns, that carries her.
“This calls for a mind that has wisdom.[fn]
“The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. They are also seven kings:
“Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he must remain for only a little while.
“For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his plan by having one purpose and to give their kingdom[fn] to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled.
For this reason her plagues will come in just one day —
death and grief and famine.
She will be burned up with fire,
because the Lord God who judges her is mighty.
for in a single hour
such fabulous wealth was destroyed!
And every shipmaster, seafarer, the sailors, and all who do business by sea, stood far off
Rejoice over her, heaven,
and you saints, apostles, and prophets,
because God has pronounced on her the judgment she passed on you!
Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying,
Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty,
reigns!
Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory,
because the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has prepared herself.
Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and makes war.
But the beast was taken prisoner, and along with it the false prophet, who had performed the signs in its presence. He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image with these signs. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan,[fn] and bound him for a thousand years.
Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! The second death has no power[fn] over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea.
The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them.
Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works.
Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things[fn] have passed away.
Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words[fn] are faithful and true.”
“The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.
“But the cowards, faithless,[fn] detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars — their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
arrayed with God's glory. Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
The one who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.
The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of jewel: the first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb's book of life.
and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him.
Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.
“Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me.
Then he said to me, “Don't seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.
“Let the unrighteous go on in unrighteousness; let the filthy still be filthy; let the righteous go on in righteousness; let the holy still be holy.”
“Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work.
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to attest these things to you for the churches. I am the Root and descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
Both the Spirit and the bride say, “Come! ” Let anyone who hears, say, “Come! ” Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely.
I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book.
And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, which are written about in this book.
“Therefore, you should pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
your name be honored as holy.
and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross! ”
And he said, “Abba,[fn] Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.”
Those who passed by were yelling insults at[fn] him, shaking their heads, and saying, “Ha! The one who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni? ” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ”
“The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself:[fn] ‘God, I thank you that I'm not like other people — greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me,[fn] a sinner! '
And they kept coming up to him and saying, “Hail, king of the Jews! ” and were slapping his face.
Therefore, every one of you[fn] who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.
Do you think — anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same — that you will escape God's judgment?
you then, who teach another, don't you teach yourself? You who preach, “You must not steal” — do you steal?
You who say, “You must not commit adultery” — do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob temples?
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba,[fn] Father! ”
for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said:
Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.
but to[fn] the Son:
Your throne, God,
is forever and ever,
and the scepter of your kingdom
is a scepter of justice.
Then I said, “See —
it is written about me
in the scroll —
I have come to do your will, God.”
There is one lawgiver and judge[fn] who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Our Lord and God,[fn]
you are worthy to receive
glory and honor and power,
because you have created all things,
and by your will
they exist and were created.
They cried out with a loud voice, “Lord,[fn] the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood? ”
saying,
We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty,
who is and who was,[fn]
because you have taken your great power
and have begun to reign.
They sang the song of God's servant Moses and the song of the Lamb:
Great and awe-inspiring are your works,
Lord God, the Almighty;
just and true are your ways,
King of the nations.[fn]
I heard the angel of the waters say,
You are just,
the Holy One, who is and who was,
because you have passed judgment on these things.
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